LEG KICKING IN SWIMMING

To understand the point of your legs doing the kicking motion in swimming, you have to have a clear picture of how your body moves forward in water. Just to dispel the rumor, kicking does not produce forward propulsion. It is merely one of the factors that collectively contribute to forward movement.

In Pose Swimming, movement in water happens just like movement on land. As a matter of fact, ANY movement here on Earth is nothing but a CHANGE OF SUPPORT.

From the Pose Method point of view, your hands do the Moving change of support and your hips follow with the Floating support. Active movement is done by recovery of shoulders to raise up the upper body. Your legs work to balance your body in water during naturally happening rotation. The kicking motion helps to keep the upper body and the lower body in "one piece" so you move as one unit. That in turn provides for smoother and more streamline movement forward. (Watch Phelps' underwater footage. His stroke is uneven and that's reflected in his kicking motion).

Kicking serves as a natural counter balance for your arms/upper body work. The longer the distance, the less kicking contributes to speed. The shorter the distance, the more it plays the role. BUT, if you put too much effort and focus into kicking, you will sabotage your efforts.

In short distances there is more kicking involved, and it appears to be more vigorous because your cadence is higher and change of support is faster. If your kicking does not match your change of support, it will "separate" your body in two units and it will feel like your feet are dragging way behind you. You will swim slower instead of faster, all the while spending more energy.

Your kicking motion in swimming has to match your change of support. Roughly put, for each support there has to be 2-6 kicks produced. As mentioned above, the number of kicks increases in shorter distances (up to 6). Longer distances dictate 1-3 kicks. Always keep in mind, the focus should remain on your upper body.

Article by Dr. Nicholas Romanov
Composed by L. Romanov